Flex time meaning: you set your own hours
Flex time, or flextime, lets you choose when you start and finish work, as long as you put in your full hours. Usually you still have to be around for a block of shared core hours. In Britain it's called flexitime.
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With flex time, you can start at 7 and leave at 3, as long as you're here from 10 to 2.
What did they mean?
Filed under F and G jargon.
How flex time works
Core hours and flexible bands
Flex time is a schedule where you choose when your day starts and ends. Core hours are the block when everyone has to be available. The flexible bands before and after them are where you pick your start and your finish. You still work a set number of hours over the day, week or month.
| Part of the day | Example |
|---|---|
| Flexible start | Any time from 7 to 10 |
| Core hours, when everyone is available | 10 am to 3 pm |
| Flexible finish | Any time from 3 to 7 |
An example week
In a 40-hour week with core hours of 10 to 3, two long days can make up for a short Friday.
| Day | Hours worked |
|---|---|
| Monday | 7 to 3:30, to miss the traffic |
| Tuesday | 10 to 6:30, after a dentist visit |
| Friday | 8 to 3, leaving early |
Flex time, PTO and remote work
Flex time moves your hours around. PTO is paid time off, so you work fewer hours for the same pay. WFH changes where you work. They’re separate entries in our jargon dictionary, and a job can offer any one of them without the other two.
Who gets flex time
More than half of US workers
57% of US wage and salary workers can vary when they start and finish. The flexibility isn’t evenly spread.
| US workers | Share |
|---|---|
| Private sector, with flexible hours | 60% |
| Public sector, with flexible hours | 40% |
| Can work from home, with flexible hours | 78% |
| Can’t work from home, with flexible hours | 44% |
| Work from home at least now and then | 34% |
| No flexible schedule and no say in it | 36% |
Most people who have flexible hours don’t change them often.
| Of workers with flexible hours | Share |
|---|---|
| Can change their hours often | 36% |
| Now and then | 45% |
| Only rarely | 19% |
Australia and the hour off
In Australia, 30% of employees have an agreement to work flexible hours. Australia and the US measure it with different questions, so the numbers don’t compare directly.
In the US, 69% of workers say taking an hour or two off during work hours wouldn’t be difficult. 11% say it would be very difficult.
Flex time, decoded
Flexible in one direction
In some offices, flex time only flexes one way. Starting at 7 is welcome, but leaving at 3, after the same eight hours, gets noticed. In those offices, you’ll want our excuses to leave work early for a 3 pm finish, whatever the policy says.
The 9:30 standup
A daily 9:30 standup on a team whose core hours start at 10 means everyone on it has to start by 9:30. At the other end of the day, a 4:30 review does the same. Nobody leaves before it, so it becomes the team’s real EOD.
When meetings ignore core hours, the whole team is back on fixed hours, and everyone is watching the same 5 pm countdown again.
Flexitime, flextime and where the word comes from
Sliding time
Flextime is a translation of the German Gleitzeit, which means sliding time. It entered English in 1972. Americans tend to write flextime or flex time, and Britons flexitime, also spelled flexi time.
A note about flex time
Subject: Flex time from November
Team, from November 2 we’re moving to
flex timehours you pick, within reason. Core hours are 10 to 3, Monday to Thursday. Outside those, start and finish when it suits you, as long as the week adds up to 40 and you’re at the 9:30 standup.
Flex time in a sentence
With flex time, you can start at 7 and leave at 3, as long as you're here from 10 to 2.
Flex time is a perk here, Bastian, but the 8 am stand-up is not.
Our flex time only flexes one way, Odette. You can start earlier, never later.
From January, flex time ends, Nell. Everyone starts at 9 so managers can see who's late.
Questions about flex time
What is an example of flextime?
With core hours of 10 am to 3 pm, you put the rest of an eight-hour day wherever you like. One person works 7 to 3 to beat the traffic, and another works 10 to 6 after school drop-off. Both are at the 11 am meeting.
Is flex time the same as PTO?
No. PTO is time off that you still get paid for, while flex time moves your working hours around without cutting them. You still work the full day or week, at times you pick.
What does "flex time" mean for vacation?
On its own, nothing: flex time changes when you work, and your number of vacation days stays the same. Some offices also let you bank extra hours and take them later as time off. That's a separate arrangement, so ask whether yours has one.
Is flextime the same as flexitime?
Yes. Flextime and flex time are the American spellings, and flexitime is the usual British one. All three mean picking your own start and finish, within limits.
Do you get paid when you use flex time?
Yes. Flex time changes when you work, not how much, so a full week at hours you choose earns a full week's pay. If you leave early and don't make the hours up, ask how your employer counts them.
What's the difference between flexitime and overtime?
Overtime is work beyond your usual hours, which some jobs pay extra for and some don't pay at all. Flexitime moves the same number of hours around, so starting at 7 and leaving at 3 isn't overtime. Some schemes let you save up extra hours as days off, which is where the two get mixed up.